President Joe Biden used a speech at the Pointe du Hoc monument in Normandy, France, on Friday to attack Russian President Vladimir Putin — and to issue a veiled attack on his domestic political opposition in the upcoming election.
As he did during the formal commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, Biden attacked Putin and called on the world to defend democracy. The latter has been a theme of Biden’s campaign against former President Donald Trump.
Biden delivered his address in the same spot where Ronald Reagan had delivered one of the most celebrated orations in presidential history, forty years ago.
Unlike Reagan before him, who criticized the Soviet Union while also recognizing the Russian contribution to victory in the Second World War, Biden focused on the challenge of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Similarly, at Pointe du Hoc, Biden focused on criticizing Putin.
After declaring that democracy required sacrifices in its defense, and praising the Army Rangers who stormed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, he said: “Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin’s aggression here in Europe today?”
Later, he continued: “They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the thirties and forties. Does anyone doubt they wouldn’t move heaven and earth to vanquish [the] hateful ideologies of today?”
Biden has often connected Trump, falsely, to Nazi rhetoric of the 1930, notably in the debunked “fine people hoax.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.